The Wrong Direction
by jaggedjacket
Summary: Tenten finds herself going in the wrong direction, only to meet up with Shino who inadvertantly saves her from an awkward situation. Me no own. One shot. Now with 80% less Neji bashing than normal. Tai Chi Chuan references. Feel free to correct or mock ;


Tenten realized that she was fleeing for her life in the wrong direction. But she had realized it too late and kept going in hopes to elude her pursuer anyways.

_Just one chakra signature is all I need, just one will save me_. She thought desperately jumping from tree to tree as fast as she could. She quite literally had just got done with practice and did not have a lot of wind left.

_Bingo!_

Tenten located a chakra signature to her left and hoped it was someone she knew. The forest around Konoha was always a great place to train, and she was hoping to find a familiar face.

Breathing heavily and clutching the stitch in her side she stopped in front of none other than Shino Aburame.

_That'll do._

"Hide me," she managed in between breaths then actually put herself behind Shino as her two teammates approached.

It was too late.

"Tenten! Aburame-san!" the loud one in green spandex shouted. Neji stared down Shino as he spoke.

Tenten poked her head out from behind Shino, who had not move the whole time. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation yet.

"Hey, guys," she managed with a wave of her hand and a forced smile.

"Tenten!" Lee got to the point of their arrival right away. "You have left yet another weapon behind from today's training session. I insisted that we find and locate you right away instead of waiting until dark. You never know when you will need a weapon in the Spring Time of Youth!" he added with a flourish complete with hand gestures.

"Wow, I seem to be doing that a lot lately. I should really be less careless. I am so glad I have you two looking out for me. I can't believe I left a…" she looked at the two of them to see what it would be this time. Neji brandished a shirikin. "a shirikin," she took the small circular weapon from Neji and quickly retreated back to the Aburame's side.

"Thanks guys, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't found that Lee." She said with another forced smile.

"No Tenten," Lee corrected, "Neji was fortunate enough to find it, I just insisted we find you right away so you would not miss it."

"Ahh, thanks for not waiting, Lee." Tenten smiled. This was all very awkward and she was sure that everyone was picking up how contrived her words were- except Lee of course.

"Come Tenten, we should show you how to do a better search of the training ground right now so that you will not lose any further weapons." Lee added with a wave of his hand turning back in the direction they came. Neji smirked at this suggestion.

"I would but," She blurted out. There were several things that hit Tenten's brain all at once: _I would but I would rather eat my own hand, I would rather try blood letting, I would rather go completely weaponless to poke a sleeping dragon in the eye._

"But what?" Neji spoke, his eyes narrowing from his disapproval.

"Because I needed to talk to Shino," she threw a thumb over her shoulder gesturing to the tallest of the boy ninjas who still had yet to say a word since her arrival.

Neji raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "About what?"

"I was going to ask Shino for help," she stammered. It wasn't a lie, but she had technically already done so.

"With...Cloud Hands," she added abruptly and it just kept getting worse from there. "I saw Shino's name on the roster list at the community center for Tai Chi Chuan and I filled out the forms to join that class since it fits my schedule better and I was going to invite him to dinner and ask him to show me Cloud Hands."

This awkward explanation needed a moment to sink in. As true as the facts were, she had no intention of actually approaching the Aburame until just now when she felt her life depended on it.

"_You're_ going to dinner with _him_," Neji raised both eye brows in disbelief this time. He subconsciously tightened his fists at his sides.

"Well, I don't know, I haven't asked him yet," Tenten said with a smile. A smile that said: "_go_ _the hell away already so I can ask him_."

"Neji, we do not want to interrupt Tenten's meeting with the Aburame," Lee stated motioning for him to follow. Neji lingered a moment to give Shino a scathing look from head to toe before following Lee back to the village. Stoic Shino did not even bother to move or feel the need to feel intimidated by his shorter counterpart.

When they were well gone and she could not sense any of their chakra she let out a deep sigh of relief.

Shino stared at her for an explanation. This is what she gave:

"Want a shirikin, it ain't mine." She spoke deliberately and handed him the same shirikin that Neji claimed she lost earlier.

He looked the weapon over in his palm carefully. It didn't seem out of the ordinary. She wasn't getting at the point she was trying to make. His curiosity got the better of him. He needed to ask the right question. He tried this one:

"If it is not yours, then whose is it?" Shino asked as she laid down at his feet in the tall green grass Shino happened to be doing whatever it was that he was doing in a bunny-filled meadow- and she happened to like bunny-filled meadows, especially ones free of psychotic teammates. She placed her hands behind her head and looked up at the Aburame starring down at her with a frown. She causally played with one of his kakkai, letting it crawl up and down her arms before finally placing it on the tip of her nose.

Tenten shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know where he gets them. Steels them, borrows them, finds them, they might even be some of his own. Dunno." This made the Aburame frown even more. He was catching on. Neji plants a weapon or says she is "missing" one that he conviently found after practice and brings it over to her place so he can have some one on one time with her. Pretty slick. Well, it would be if worked out like that had she liked him back, which it seemed she didn't.

"You don't like him?" Shino was a bit shocked and blurted it out before his brain could stop him.

"Oh _hell _no." she stated quickly getting up, she gently placed the bug back on Shino. "I trust you don't need any further explanation than that?" she cocked her head to the side in a daring manner. She wondered if the Aburame would pry. The bug flew back to her anyways.

"But I have to ask," Shino began as Tenten folded her arms,"Cloud Hands?"

Tenten did a face palm and began to laugh along with the Aburame. She couldn't think of anything but one of the simplest of moves.

"So Shino," Tenten began as they both fell to the ground after their fit of giggles, "would you like to go to dinner with me tonight and help me with my 'Cloud Hands?'"

Shino gave her a confused look. Tenten looked quite serious at the request. Shino was caught in a dilemma. He had never been asked out by a girl before. He was uncertain of her intentions.

"Come on Shino, I am not going to lie, parts of my form are horrendous and I do need help with that. Obviously the main reason is to keep me company in case psycho-teammate doesn't get the picture. But it might be fun, and it's only one night. Come on, even _you_ can put up with _me_ for one night." She playfully nudged him with her shoulder.

"You're a shinobi and all you could come up with is 'Cloud Hands?'" he teased. "I would prefer someone who could think a little quicker on her feet." He added for good measure.

She gave him a stern look.

"You must not know I am fully armed."

"Good thing I have this shuriken for protection."

They both had another good laugh and they agreed to see each other around six at her place for dinner.

"I make a mean stir fry, come hungry, bring dessert if you want." She hollered back to him as they set on their separate ways.

…..

"You really do suck at Cloud Hands," Shino pointed out noticing her foot placement wasn't perfect. She gave him a mockingly stern look.

"Don't you even mock my Cloud Hands!" She stated in a sassy, higher than normal tone.

Shino chuckled. "Your foot is turned out too much," he observed, "try going into the Counter Swing."

As it went, Purgation Exercises were her favorite and would gladly transition. "I have to do the Bear Swing before I go into the Counter Swing, or I don't fold from my kwa right." She explained. Shino took a step back to observe. She had an excellent Bear Swing, or Swing #1. She took the momentum to start the Counter Swing, but lost her rhythm somewhere along the way.

"Yikes, now I just look like I am trying out for a Thriller video." Shino smiled again and came up behind her to correct her stance. He took her wrists and replaced them in the air shoulder height instead of above her head.

"No Michael Jackson moves here," he chided playfully with a smile. "Feet forward and I will walk you through a move and guide your hands to where they are supposed to be."

She was suddenly aware of how close Shino was and forced herself to concentrate to do the move. She fought the urge to nervously say something about grabbing her crotch. Shino was a whole head taller than she was, which made her feel a little small but not intimidated. Perhaps she was just nervous. Shino was very polite and patient, something she wasn't used to being around when training. Probably why she decided to take the Tai Chi Chuan course in the first place- something different that didn't involve being told how weak she was or a pressured filled atmosphere. She had always wanted to learn and it gave her a chance to be in public away from her house in case Neji stopped by unexpectedly. Now she liked it for different reasons.

Shino gently took hold of her wrists and ran her through the exercise once more. In truth he was sure she had it, but he had a hard time letting go for some reason. He was liking how close he could stand to her to "help." He swallowed hard. His kakkai buzzed excitedly. This did not escape Tenten's notice.

She stopped and looked up with a smile," I can feel them!" she said excitedly. Shino's heart began to beat just a little faster. She turned to face him. "May I?" she asked permission to invade his personal space. Shino answered with a small nod.

She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her right ear to his chest. They buzzed louder with excitement.

"Amazing!" she exclaimed after she had listened to the internal workings of his hive for a short pause. Shino had done everything in his power to regulate his breathing and heart rate at this time. He found himself returning the hug, unknowing if it was welcomed or not. He was aware that he had put her in an awkward position, and started to retract his arms when he was met with a stern look. "The bugs don't like it when you do that," she explained as she repositioned his arms around her.

Shino smiled and reaffirmed his grip on her, this time with confidence instead of uncertainty. His smile turned smug.

…

"_You are so naughty_!" Tenten half spoke half whispered as Shino purposely neglected to put his shirt on to answer the door.

Shino opened the door halfway, using the best of his height to intimidate the Hyuga, "Can I help you?" Shino said dryly.

Neji gave Shino his best cold stare. "I need to talk to Tenten." He stated simply.

"She is tiered and indisposed." Shino spoke matter of factly. "If it is not urgent, I must ask that you wait until tomorrow to see her, or," Shino offered, "I can relay a message if you like."

The Hyuga's eyes narrowed. Shino could see him try to hide the kunai he was inevitably going to say she left at practice earlier that day.

"No message."

Shino shut the door with a smug grin.

"You are so naughty!" Tenten repeated hitting Shino with a pillow as he came back to his side of the couch. They had only been cuddling and watching a movie, but still.

"I have a feeling," Shino said slowly, "that you like it," he announced in a cocky voice.

"Touché."

"I think that about solves your 'missing weapons' problem as well." Shino pulled Tenten back into his lap and pressed play on the remote.

Tenten let out an exasperated sigh, "can you believe he thought I didn't know?"

Shino smiled again. He almost owed Neji a thank you for driving her to him that day.

_Nah_.


End file.
